I’m fed up with the idea that people need to buy 100% local organic vegan food to be a decent human bean. When I was 19 and poor as fuck, I spent more time and money on making sure my life was ethically-sound and environmentally-friendly  than I did on actual schoolwork.

Is the problem blaring enough? Being able to eat vegan and build muscle is privileged as FUCK. There are gym membership fees, the cost of eating more food, the higher prices of local and organic food, time to prep food due to limited eating options, and not to mention the overwhelming experience that is ethical shopping.

Always remember that the rest of the world isn’t living by vegan standards. If you are disadvantaged, I do not suggest adding another one. On a shitty income there is very little to gain by veganizing your life. Don’t pillage the savings for what could be a down payment on a home or used car. Financial security over bougie morality.

If you live at home or are a rich brat, this article is not for you and you should feel bad for your lack of discipline and buy everything vegan.

TL;DR: If you are a student or young pre-professional, just focus on school or work rather than converting your life over to veganism. Focus on reducing food animal products, rather than all animal products altogether.

Don’t Buy Organic Sometimes

I was organic-obsessed for nearly half a decade and still am. In college, I used to buy organic food with my food stamps and student loan money. At that time, it could’ve been the difference between saving money or breaking even, but instead I chose to pay an ethics tax!

When talking about living a healthy lifestyle, it is all about exercising, eating whole foods, and having a healthy mindset. Organic produce plays a very small role in transforming your health. It is a luxury, not a necessity. It’s not even equally available throughout the United States. Personally, non-organic produce seems way less risky than non-organic meat and dairy, which many people eat at restaurants without batting an eye. You can eat a vegan diet without eating organic, or local, food.

Online you can find various resources on which foods to buy organic or not, like the clean fifteen, produce with the least amount of pesticides, and the dirty dozen, produce with the most.

My personal rule: fruits with thick skin, like kiwis, bananas, pineapples, and avocados, don’t need to be bought organic. All your greens except for cabbage should be organic. I’ buy non-organic broccoli when it’s buy-one-get-one.

Don’t Buy Vegan Supplements

Okay, this suggestion will turn you into vegetarian scum or even worse: pescatarian. If you train fasted, you know the very important recommendation of taking BCAAs and you’re probably taking fish oil for omega-3 too, correct? Vegan supplements are expensive; sometimes twice as expensive. Look, you can save the world, or you can pretend that you forgot to make sure your supplements were vegan and have enough money to spend on vegan ice cream.

Here are some common supplements that are definitely good and definitely not vegan by default, so pick your donation to the cause:

• BCAA (branched chain amino acids) – the vegan one I tried tasted like shit!
• creatine monohydrate
• omega-3 (usually fish oil)

Buy Sweetened Milk Alternatives

Sweetened milk alternatives cost the same as their non-sweetened counterparts. If you want to save yourself an extra 100 calories or so when you’re trying to put on mass, let these sweetened variants help. Sometimes I will make a smoothie with lots of hemp or something else that isn’t very sweet and will end up using an extra banana or dates to sweeten them. That’s cool, but they cost money and are low-key just bougie sugar with some extras. Buy sweetened soy milk and sweetened almond milk for your workout days and save!

No One Will Know

I see vegans being bad all the time and they don’t even know it. Don’t let the fear and judgment from dogmatic vegans overwhelm you or make hasty decisions that aren’t quite right for you given your circumstances and goals. Your reduction is helping and is doing a lot more than the extreme policing. Peace!